Erie Councilwoman wants citizens' police review board

Sonya Arrington plans to sponsor a City Council resolution calling for a panel that would investigate allegations of misconduct by police, like the one Pittsburgh has had since 1997.

Kevin Flowers @ETNFlowers

There hasn't been a serious and prolonged discussion about launching a citizens' police review board in the city of Erie since 2009.

City Councilwoman Sonya Arrington plans to change that.

Arrington plans to sponsor a City Council resolution by February that calls for the city to create a citizens' review panel that would investigate allegations of misconduct by police, recommend appropriate action regarding those complaints and work on projects that aim to improve police-citizen relations. It would be similar to the review board that has operated in Pittsburgh since 1997.

The seven-member panel in Pittsburgh has a similar mandate, and its members are appointed by either Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto or Pittsburgh City Council.

Arrington said she has already talked with Mayor-elect Joe Schember, who takes office in January, about a review panel. Arrington said Schember, council or both could appoint a diverse group of citizens to serve on the review board.

“We need this review group because police cannot police themselves all of the time. We still have a lot of issues going on,” Arrington said.

“We ought to be able to have a different approach and another tool we can use when it comes to misconduct (claims)," Arrington said. "We need a review panel of people who are out here in the community, who know what’s going on, and have a good head on their shoulders to look at these situations.”

The possibility of a citizens' review board has been brought up multiple times. City Council seriously took a look at the issue in May 2009, one month after a video was posted on YouTube showing a white off-duty Erie police officer, James Cousins II, making fun of black homicide victim Rondale Jennings Sr.

Cousins never mentioned race in the video. However, leaders in Erie's black community and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People said that racism was implied.

But months after the incident, City Council put the issue on the back burner after Erie police put several changes in place, including revamped procedures for submitting and handling citizen complaints and new internal affairs policies.

Arrington, however, said the conversation needs to be renewed, especially with a new mayoral administration and two new members — Liz Allen and Kathleen Schaaf — joining the seven-member City Council in January.

Schember said he is "not prepared to support one at this point, but I am willing to discuss it further.

"My understanding is that their power is very limited," Schember said. "For instance, they have no legal authority to obtain evidence or force anyone to testify. It will also be hard to find citizens who have an expertise in police work."

However, Schember said, "I understand why the minority community sees a need for one."

Police Chief Donald Dacus could not be reached for comment.

Allen said the issue is worth exploring, although she wants to know more about Arrington's plan and to conduct more research about citizens' review panels in general.

Allen also said consideration of a review panel is a good idea following what she called the "unsatisfying" conclusion of a U.S. Department of Justice probe of Erie police in the wake of a violent June 2016 encounter between police and an Erie man, Montrice Bolden.

After promising in July 2016 to scrutinize the patterns and practices of the Erie Bureau of Police as part of their investigation, federal officials in April announced that their review found officers did not violate Bolden's civil rights. Justice Department officials revealed nothing regarding Erie officers' patterns and practices.

"There's been so much talk about changing the culture at City Hall, and a customer-service emphasis," Allen said. "Well, certainly with police interaction in the community, the citizens are the customers. Maybe that's the framework we use to look at something like a citizens' review board."

Allen added that the issue probably needs to be part of a wider discussion about body cameras for police officers, dash cameras for patrol cars or both. The city is now testing dash cameras in some patrol vehicles; Schember has said he wants to put widespread use of some recording mechanism in place for police soon.

"The whole conversation should be part of an approach to make relations between the public and the police as good as possible," Allen said.

Kevin Flowers can be reached at 870-1693 or by email. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ETNflowers.